Best (Low Latency Video Capture Card for Xbox/Playstation

[jkheit]

Hi All:

I have a nice Mac Pro setup with a video wall. The video wall is just an extension of my desktop, so it's effectively just a big screen. I would like to take advantage of the wall for gaming and hook up an xbox or playstation.

So, my question is what is the best video capture card for the Mac Pro? Particularly, which card introduces the least amount of latency so as not to hamper the gaming experience?

The idea is I could play games and see the game in a video capture window, and perhaps stretch the window out to over multiple screens on the wall.

Not sure if this is realistic, but would appreciate any thoughts/help.

Thanks for any help!

 

[ActionableMango]

I do not have personal experience with this, but the Hauppage HD PVR Gaming Edition will supposedly do this.

The last I checked, it only came with Windows software but there was third party, commercial software available for OS X.

http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hdpvr-gaming.html

Again, I have no idea how well this works or doesn't work, but it's worth looking into.

Have you changed your setup? I seem to remember you had your monitors spread out over two desks, and some monitors under the surface of a glass desk.

 

[jkheit]

I do not have personal experience with this, but the Hauppage HD PVR Gaming Edition will supposedly do this.

The last I checked, it only came with Windows software but there was third party, commercial software available for OS X.

http://www.hauppauge.com/site/products/data_hdpvr-gaming.html

Again, I have no idea how well this works or doesn't work, but it's worth looking into.

Have you changed your setup? I seem to remember you had your monitors spread out over two desks, and some monitors under the surface of a glass desk.

Thanks AM! I'll take a look. I also saw these:

http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/decklink/models/
http://www.blackmagicdesign.com/products/intensity

They are known to work with the Mac Pro, and they show gaming as one application.

My setup hasn't really changed too much. I have 10 screens. 6 on/in the desk, and then a wall of 4 65" displays. The only minor changes is before I had one xfx 5770 5-mini display port card (single slot) and a dual slot power color card with similar specs. I've since sourced a second xfx card, so now the system "breathes" a little better internally. Also, 10.9 has eradicated any gremlins with display artifacts.

I've also tried single slot 7950's, but they had significant artifacts. Anyway, the xfx 5770 single slot 5-mini display port cards seem to be the "magic" cards that just work if you want a wall of monitors.

My current "dilemma" is a lack of slots. I found a good USB 3 card. I have the two xfx cards. And if I want to use the blackmagicdesign card, then I cannot use my current PCI based SSD.

Perhaps a solution is to use a USB 3 based capture card, but again, I worry about the lag. Wonder if there are any good USB 3.0 capture devices with minimal lag...

What is interesting is that one would think that getting the new Mac Pro could solve a lot of issues. But it seems limited to 6 displays. They tout that it can push 3 4k displays, but that's only 24megapixels. My current setup is pushing over 32megapixels. So unless they and/or someone releases a cage for extra displays via thunderbolt, the new MacPro is a non starter for video wall applications. Worse, even if you do find some PCI cage connection via thunderbolt, that thunderbolt 2 connection is way slower than the direct PCI connection, and as such, the displays hooked up via thunderbolt will be a good bit pokier...

 

[ActionableMango]

What is interesting is that one would think that getting the new Mac Pro could solve a lot of issues. But it seems limited to 6 displays. They tout that it can push 3 4k displays, but that's only 24megapixels. My current setup is pushing over 32megapixels. So unless they and/or someone releases a cage for extra displays via thunderbolt, the new MacPro is a non starter for video wall applications. Worse, even if you do find some PCI cage connection via thunderbolt, that thunderbolt 2 connection is way slower than the direct PCI connection, and as such, the displays hooked up via thunderbolt will be a good bit pokier...

Well the nMP has Thunderbolt2, which carries DisplayPort 1.2, which in turn allows daisy chaining multiple monitors per GPU output port. So theoretically, if the cards supported DP 1.2 and daisy chaining, you could run more than six screens. That's a big IF though; it's been pointed out that these cards are based on a two year old AMD design. Of course your monitors in middle of the chain must also have DP out ports in order to daisy chain.

http://www.displayport.org/embedded...le-displays-from-a-single-displayport-output/

So it's theoretically possible but nobody knows until they try. In other words, the same scenario you've been in already.

Good luck!

 

[jkheit]

Well the nMP has Thunderbolt2, which carries DisplayPort 1.2, which in turn allows daisy chaining multiple monitors per GPU output port. So theoretically, if the cards supported DP 1.2 and daisy chaining, you could run more than six screens. That's a big IF though; it's been pointed out that these cards are based on a two year old AMD design. Of course your monitors in middle of the chain must also have DP out ports in order to daisy chain.

http://www.displayport.org/embedded...le-displays-from-a-single-displayport-output/

So it's theoretically possible but nobody knows until they try. In other words, the same scenario you've been in already.

Good luck!

Yea, it's not clear. What is clear is you need all new monitors with pass thru's; not going to replace 10 high end monitors just to use a marginally faster Mac Pro.